


A Little Bit of Red

by SheepGoToHeavenGoatsGoToHell



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Assassins & Hitmen, Different POV's, M/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 02:12:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1965015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheepGoToHeavenGoatsGoToHell/pseuds/SheepGoToHeavenGoatsGoToHell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel and Dean share a similar history. Both of their parents were killed by the same man for the same reason. Dean moved on and started his own life, whereas Castiel chose a life of murder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I track the tag #fuckingstupidcake if anyone ever feels like doing any little doodles

The strong wind blows, whistling it’s way through the trees, knocking over the short slide in the yard behind the tallest house on the hill. The slide had gone unused since Cas had grown too big to use it. It was a toddlers slide, and he was a boy now. No longer a child. After all, 8 was too big to be called a kid. Or at least that was what he constantly said to his parents. There is a crash and a bang downstairs and Cas turns away from where he was watching out the window, walking slowly down the steps, he rounds the corner as he hears another bang. He sees a tall man looking at his parents, who are on the ground. He looks at him, the corner of his mouth turns up. “Hello little darling.” He says, his voice sounding gravelly. Cas takes a step back, seeing the blood pooling underneath his mother’s dressing gown. “No no, don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you. I promise. Your mommy and daddy aren’t hurt, they’re just sleeping. Come with me and I’ll keep you safe.” He smiles softly at him, giving him his hand and lifting him over his parents dead bodies and out the door.


	2. Sociopathic Assassins Club

By the time Cas was 16 he was taught 8 languages: Italian, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Cantonese, Arabic, and Greek. He was made to do 2 hours of martial arts every day since he was taken 8 years ago. He didn’t even remember his parents anymore, or the circumstances in which he came to be with Crowley, his guardian, was kind. He had never hurt him and had only just trained him to be what he was now. It wasn’t so much that he killed people for money... but he killed people for money. Bad people. Usually. Okay, sometimes they weren’t bad. He’d become so dissociated from his emotions that he didn’t even care anymore. He’d never had any friends, and was raised by a sociopathic assassin. How else was he going to turn out but become a sociopath too? 

It had started out pretty bad. The day after Crowley took him, he sat Cas down and told him the truth. He told him his parents were dead, that they were bad people and he’d been hired to kill them. That he was sorry Cas was an orphan, but if he wanted then he could take him under his wing. He didn’t exactly understand but he didn’t have any other family left, so he agreed. For his thirteenth birthday he let him take one of his marks.

It was such a rush. 

The corners of his mouth turning up as the light left someone's eyes. This was his world. A world of death and power. He belonged to it now. But all that was in the past. He was 20 and mostly out on his own, at least on assignments, otherwise he was back at the villa. At the moment, he had just gotten off a train to Berlin. Berlin was definitely one of his favourites. So much history, and definitely not all of it was good. He was here to kill somebody who'd neglected to pay back some loan or other. Cas always thought those kinds of marks were weird. Being paid to kill someone who couldn't pay off a debt. But he guessed no one liked getting their hands dirty. Well, bloody. He didn't mind too much anymore.

He pulls out a tiny scrap of paper with the time and address written on it. He was supposed to have burned it already, but he was terrible at remembering addresses correctly. Languages were easy. Names and numbers? Not so much. He made his way to the mans workplace, and up the stairs. He passed him on the 3rd flight and he looked him up and down, obviously checking him out. Cas smiled at him cocking his head upwards, and turns to walk the rest of the stairs to the roof. He follows him. Why wouldn't he? Cas thinks to himself. He shuts the stair access door behind them, closes the distance between them and wraps an arm around his waist. "What's a guy like you doing in a place like this?" He asks grinding against him. "I was hired to do a job." Cas responds with glee. "My lucky day!" He says, winking and Cas laughs. "I would think, not." He says with a smile, so deliciously malicious that his smile falters, quickly being replaced by fear. Cas grabs him by the tie and pulls lightly, leading him to the end. Turning him to face the other way and pushes him off. He likes it when they struggle, but people are usually way too shocked or stunned to react. The saying should really be adapted to Fight, flight, or fright.


	3. Home Sweet Home

Cas collapses into his bed when he arrives home. completely exhausted from the flight. That was one thing he never had been able to get used to. Killing people sure. Torture was kind of fun too. But he still had a thing about planes. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the mechanics of it. He had thoroughly researched that before a particularly long flight in an effort to calm his anxiety about the flight. It helped. But not much. What did help was believing in magic and convincing himself that it was magic. But that was what exhausted him. Convincing himself for a 12 hour flight that magic could get a 400,000 pound hunk of metal it the sky and push it forward.   
But he was home now. Almost immediately there is a knock at the door and Crowley lets himself in, crawling into bed next to Cas. 

“Hey honey, I’m home!” Cas says sleepily yet sarcastically.  
“And what kind of time do you call this?” Crowley responds just as sarcastically. Both of them grinning widely. Cas liked Crowley, as a friend and a mentor. There had never been anything sexual between them. Crowley, gladly, felt the same.   
“Did you have a nice trip?” Crowley asked sincerely.   
“Yeah it was good. Saw the sights, pushed someone off a roof, terrible airplane food though. I’ve never had chicken so dry in my life!”  
“Was the plane okay? I can send someone with you next time if you need a hired distraction.” Crowley offered  
“You know I might actually take you up on that.” Cas responded, Crowley’s eyebrows going up and letting out a low whistle.  
“Whoa. That must have been one shitty flight.”  
Cas sighs. “You have no idea. Where’s Mittens?” He asked, realizing there wasn’t a large rottweiler knocking him over when he had gotten home.  
“I hired a sitter. Mittens is probably having a lovely jaunt through the park with him now. Take a nap and your little puppy will be home soon.” Crowley said, Cas scoffing at the puppy part. He had a full-grown dog. Mittens was no puppy.

Cas falls asleep. When he wakes up Crowley is gone and there’s a man standing over him staring at him.  
“Can I help you?” Cas asks him, sitting up.  
“Who are you?” The man asks.  
“Who am I? You are aware you are in my home right?” Cas responds, eyebrows raised in amusement.  
“Oh. Right. I’m Dean. I’m your dog walker. Just a question... why the hell did you name your male rottweiler Mittens?”  
“It suited him.” Cas answers matter of factly. “Also, I’m Cas. Nice to meet you Dean.” Cas reached to shake Dean’s hand and Dean just stares at it before Cas shrugs and pulls his hand back, falling back onto his bed. “You can go now.” He says to Dean, closing his eyes to fall back asleep.  
“Douche.” Dean says under his breath, walking towards the door.


	4. A Cake Walk

Dean comes by for Mittens again the next day while Cas is still in bed. Cas notices the man has a lot of energy and inquires as to why.  
“Well why not man? Beautiful day today!” Dean answers with a grin. Cas raises an eyebrow. “Dude, have you even been outside yet? It is seriously nice out.” He reiterates.  
“No, I have not. Do you have any other comments on the weather or shall we move on to the clothing choices of celebrities?” Cas deadpans, causing Dean to start laughing.  
“Dude you are hilarious!”  
“Thanks dude.” Cas responds, rolling his eyes. He rolls over in bed and looks at the time, it’s half past 2. He groans.  
“Late night last night?” Dean asks empathetically.  
“You could say that.” Cas answers. After getting home from Berlin he had slept for a few hours before getting a call to help bury a body. That was never fun. He always got dirt under his nails even though he wore gloves. And maybe it was just him but there was nothing worse than dirty nails. Or dirt in general really. It was a wonder he killed people for a living, since it was such a messy job.

He sits up and looks up at Dean, rubbing at his eyes.  
“Do you want to come with?” Dean asks.  
“On Mittens walk?”  
“Where else?”  
“Are we going to keep doing this?”  
“Keep doing what?” Dean asks, confused and Cas breaks into a fit of giggles which Dean quickly joins. “Okay, yeah I get it. But seriously put some damn pants on and we can find you a coffee.” Dean says trying not to look at Cas’s body. Cas looks down, realizing he’s barely wrapped in a sheet.  
“Sorry, go wait outside with Mittens and I’ll join you in a moment.”

Cas throws on a pair of jeans, a purple shirt, a cap, and a pair of sunglasses on and walks out the door. He didn’t have any friends, he was 20 and had never had a friend other than Crowley. Maybe he could try having one. It wouldn’t hurt to try at least, especially if Mittens liked him. Mittens was an excellent judge of character. 

“So, Mittens?” Dean asks, repeating his question from the day before. Cas sighs before answering.  
“I got him from the pound. He was going to be put down because he was pretty vicious as a puppy and kept attacking people and killing other animals. When I went to play with him he bit through by hand and I had to wear gauze around it for a month and it looked like a mitten. My guardian thought the dog just needed to be trained so we took him home. He’s a big old sweetheart now though.  
“Wait... so your parents got you a vicious dog? That’s messed up.”  
“Guardian. My parents are dead.”  
“No way! Mine too. High five for Dead parents club!” Dean raises his hand and Cas raises his eyebrows. “C’mon man don’t leave me hanging.” Cas sighs and smacks Dean’s hand.  
“We are not going to discuss our dead parents because I don't know you and that’s kind of fucked up.” Cas says gesturing for Dean to wait and going into the coffee shop and ordering his drink. Who the hell high fives someone for having dead parents? Cas thinks to himself. At least it was better than the hand on the shoulder “I’m so sorry for your loss” bit. The barista hands him his coffee and smiles at him.

“Cas.”  
“Yeah?”  
“There is a phone number on your cup.” Dean says pointing at the side of his cup. Sure enough there was a number with the name Meg.  
“Why would she do that?”  
“Because she thinks you’re cute. You should ask her out.”  
“Not my type.”  
“Oh? What is your type then? If not pretty blondes then what?”  
“Brunettes.” Cas says unblinkingly staring at Dean who stares back then coughs and looks away running his fingers through his hair and looking down at his feet before Cas starts laughing.  
“Not funny dude.”  
“Yes. It was.” Cas says still laughing.

They walk for a while, Dean rambles about all the dogs he walks during the week and the bar he works on weekends. Before finally turning to Cas and asking what Cas does.  
“I’m an investment banker.” Cas says, knowing from experience that no one wants to hear about it.  
“Aren’t you kind of young for that?”  
“Yep. That’s why they like me.” Cas says winking at Dean.  
“Fair enough. How old are you anyways?” Dean pries.  
“I’m 20.”  
“Fuck, you’re just a wee baby aren’t you.” He teases.  
“Well how old are you then?”  
“I’m a man. I’m 23!” Dean says, making Cas laugh.  
“I am 16 going on 17, I know that I’m naive!” Cas sings  
“You are 16 going on 17, fellows will fall in line!” Dean sings back, and Cas swats at his arm.  
“That’s not the next line.”  
“I know.” Dean says grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to end it on there. It was too cute not to.


	5. Nectar of the Gods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to my amazing new beta Sophie! You make writing infinitely easier! She is cassiopea56 on tumblr and ao3!

They get back to Cas’s place and Cas unlocks the door, letting them in.  
“I should get to the next place I have one more dog to walk this morning, but you’re welcome to come on the walk tomorrow.”  
“Isn’t that what I’m paying you for? To walk my dog?”  
“Technically I will be walking the dog. You can walk beside me with a cup of coffee.” Dean says grinning. Cas rolls his eyes and watches Dean take off the leash. Mittens promptly darts off to his bed and lays down.  
“See you tomorrow then.”  
“Yeah. Tomorrow.”

Cas looks at the time, which now reads 4 pm. He showers and changes into a suit, holstering a gun onto his hip and putting another in an ankle holster along with several throwing knives. Today he didn’t need to kill anybody, instead he had to protect someone. He never really liked being on guard duty because they usually expected him to jump in front of a bullet for a complete stranger and there’s no way in hell he actually would if it came down to it. But Crowley had begged him to take the job, apparently the guy was a friend of his and he needed a bodyguard for a transaction. 

He walked over to the hotel where he was meeting his client. As soon as he spotted him he went up to the man, who introduced himself as Alistair, and greeted him as if he were an old friend he was glad to see and walked with him through the hotel lobby conversing casually about things he didn’t have, like a wife, or a new baby that kept him up all night. Just like he was sure Alastair didn’t have his in-laws sleeping in his spare room. But they both had on wedding rings. 

It was a game they had to play to seem normal to onlookers. Cas even had a family picture in his wallet along with a few candid shots of a baby for these types of jobs. When they get to the restaurant where the transaction was to occur they stopped talking about the family they didn't have and started talking about baseball. Almost any guy could talk about sports for at least an hour, maybe even longer after a few drinks. Not that they were drinking on the job of course.

The man they are supposed to be meeting slides into the booth with them, along with a bodyguard of his own.  
“Shall we get down to business gents?” He asks.  
“Of course.” Alistair reaches into his pocket and pulls out a steel business card holder and slides it over to the man across from him who opens it up and grins.  
“Do you know what this is?”  
“Yes.” Alastair says. “I do have google.”  
“Well then. Thanks.” He says, sliding over a metal briefcase. Cas opens it for Alastair and checks the contents. The two other men leave and Cas leans over to Alastair.  
“You do realize this is nearly 3 million dollars? Shouldn’t you have hired a little more security?”  
“I have complete faith in your abilities.” Alastair replies grabbing the briefcase.  
“So what was that anyways? Kind of small to be worth so much money.”  
“It was a Honus Wagner baseball card.They are extremely rare, my employer acquired it a while back and no longer had a need for it so he sent me to sell it. Selling it to a museum would have attracted too much attention.” Alastair shrugs. They pay the tab and leave, hailing a cab outside to take them back to the hotel. When they get back to the hotel Cas waits while Alastair gets his things together and they go back down to the cab. Cas accompanies him to the small airfield just outside of town where Alastair takes a private jet back to his employer.

“Any troubles?” Crowley asks him later that evening.  
“Nope, smooth sailing on all counts.” Cas replies, grabbing a bottle of water and throwing himself onto the couch.  
“Well that’s good. Better than getting shot at, eh champ?” Crowley says, with Cas rolling his eyes. “So, you’re keeping your dog walker?” Crowley inquires.  
“Yeah. Mittens likes him.” Cas says blankly.  
“Just Mittens?” He teases.  
“He’s nice. Where did you find him anyway?”  
“I posted flyers all over the area that said ‘dog walker wanted for big dumb dog’.” Crowley says.  
“No you didn’t.”  
“No, I didn’t. He actually came recommended by a mutual friend. The mutt hates me so it was a win win. He gets a job, and I don’t have to deal with the dog.”  
“Mittens doesn’t hate you. You just don’t respect him.”  
“I saved the beast from execution. You think he could show a little more gratitude.” Crowley says, his voice starting to rise. Cas took a slow breath in.  
“You’re right, he should. I’ll talk to him about it.”  
“You’ll talk to your dog about hating me?” Crowley says, his voice at a normal level again, raising an eyebrow.  
“Yes, I will. Mittens is a good boy.” Cas says, lifting one corner of his mouth into half a smile.  
“Well then, I have things to do, places to see, and people to kill. See you soon!” Crowley mock salutes and leaves. Cas crawls into bed, setting an alarm for noon the next day. He was not a morning person. 

The next day when the alarm goes off Cas barely remembers ever setting it. He gets up and busies himself cleaning up for an hour even though he has a maid for that. She never puts things where he likes them. Just when he is about to start making a late lunch for himself and Dean, he hears a key turn in the lock on the front door. Dean walks in and Cas greets him with a fresh cup of coffee. Dean blows on it to cool it off and takes a sip.  
“Mmmmm, oh my god! What is this?” Dean moans, taking another sip.  
“Calm down it’s just coffee.”  
“This is not coffee. This is the nectar of the gods!” Dean enthuses, and Cas smiles.  
“It’s from Taiwan. It's coffee from a small company called ChacolaTAY. I prefer buying from them because they really focus on the taste. Places like Starbucks only focus on quantity not quality. I can give you a bag of it if you want. I always buy a dozen bags at a time. I have yet to taste a richer blend anywhere else.”  
“You’ve been to Taiwan? Where else have you been?” Dean asks, taking his cup over to the table and looking at the soup heating on the stove.  
“Yeah, a couple times. I travel a lot for work. I’m making lunch if you’re hungry.”  
“Dude, I’m always hungry. But back to the travel, where else have you been?”  
“Lots of places. I don’t remember specifics really.” Cas says vaguely.  
“Oh come on. Like have you been to Scotland? I have always wanted to go. I’ve heard it’s really beautiful.”  
“Yes, I have been to Scotland. It is definitely picturesque and I highly recommend a trip there sometime. Not the best coffee though.” Cas says pointedly, taking a sip of his coffee.  
“How can you drink coffee from a regular coffee shop after having this? It’s like mud in comparison.”  
“I actually usually don’t. But you asked me to go with you yesterday and I hadn’t had my fix yet.” Cas admits.  
“Wow. That must have been quite the sacrifice.” Dean says completely seriously.  
“You have no idea. I forgot how terrible regular coffee was. It tastes like trees.” Cas says with a grimace.  
“Like trees? Really? Have you gone around chomping on tree branches for that comparison?” Dean asks, smirking.  
“Oh come on! You’ve never chewed on bark before?” Cas asks surprised.  
“No. I can honestly say I have never tasted wood.” Dean replies, Cas trying to keep a straight face and failing.  
“What? What did I say?” Dean asks confused.  
“That you have never tasted wood.”  
“Is that something I should...” Dean stops and realizes what he had said. “Oh.”  
“Yeah.” Cas says, still laughing quietly. Dean clears his throat and takes a few sips of his coffee.


	6. It's The Dogs Fault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to Sophie (cassiopea56 on ao3 and tumblr) you are my muse!

Cas finally stops laughing.  
“You are so immature. Aren’t you a little old for boner jokes?” Dean asks smirking.  
“Not even close. I’m pretty sure that’s a thing that goes on until you hit your mid life crisis. Then it’s all fast cars and forgetting you have a penis, or how to use it. From what I’ve heard at least.”  
“Who the hell are you talking to?” Dean says, like this was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. Cas shrugs and Dean rolls his eyes.  
“So is Cas short for something or is it just the one syllable?” Dean asks with amusement.  
“It’s short for Castiel.”  
“Like the angel?”  
“I guess? I don’t remember.”  
“How old were you when your parents died?”  
“I was 8. I barely remember it, but I do remember the person who killed them standing over them and telling me they were just sleeping. It took me a long time to realize they were really gone.” Cas says, ladling the soup into bowls. He feels a hand cover his free one.   
“I’m so sorry. When my parents were killed the guy tried to take me but I threw a vase at him and ran out the back door.” Dean says empathetically. Cas looks at him for a moment, wondering if it had been Crowley who had killed his parents too, he’d have to ask him about that next time he saw him.

They sit down at the table to eat their soup, moving onto lighter conversations. Dean could talk a mile a minute and was doing so happily. He was currently talking about his little brother Sam, and how he was just finishing his first year of university and had just started dating a girl named Jessica and Dean had met her when he visited Sam at Stanford last weekend. 

It was weird for Cas, having Dean talk about his normal family life and his childhood. It made his heart melt, listening to Dean speak fondly of his adoptive uncle who raised him like his own son and taught him how to fix cars, which Dean had done before becoming a dog walker. Dean had three dogs of his own which made switching careers an easy decision. All of them were rescues. He had a lab named Max, a retriever named Kayden and a cockapoo named Lucy. 

“I can’t imagine having three dogs, and sorry to ask but, what’s a cockapoo?” Cas says.  
“Yeah I love them, I bet they’d love to meet Mittens. Why don’t you bring him to my place sometime?” Dean offers. “A cockapoo, is a mix between a poodle and a cocker spaniel. Absolutely beautiful dogs. But Lucy gets pretty bummed out sometimes just cause Max and Kayden are so much bigger than her, but she more than keeps up with them.” Dean says smiling fondly.  
“She sounds adorable, they all do. I’m sure Mittens would love some time with other dogs.”  
“Maybe this weekend, around four?” Dean asks, Cas thinking a moment.  
“Great! It’s a date.” Cas says enthusiastically, Dean smiling softly and raising his eyebrows causing Cas to stutter.  
“I mean for our dogs!”  
“Sure you do!” Dean replies, with Cas swatting playfully at his arm.

\---Dean’s POV---

Dean liked Cas. He was handsome and just a little bit awkward and he clearly liked dogs which was an absolute necessity in Dean’s world. He had known he was gay since elementary school when he got into a fight with Jo Harvelle over his best friend because she had kissed him, he had hit her, and his Uncle Bobby had just said “that’s what little boys do when they like a girl” and had shrugged it off and downed his beer. But Dean didn’t like her, he liked his friend, he had been jealous when Jo kissed him. He had never had any gay panic, he told Bobby and Sam when he was sure and they were fine with it. He had never been shoved into lockers or beaten up after school because his peers were a little afraid of him, okay, a lot afraid of him. So, him being gay was never an issue, he felt like he should be upfront with Cas but at the same time he didn’t want to freak him out or cause a panic. 

“So Cas, did you want to come on the walk or just inhale the rest of the litre of coffee left in that pot?” Dean asks nodding towards the large carafe on the maker.   
“Both are pretty tempting.”  
“Why don’t you stay here, that way I can go for a run with Mittens?” Deans asks. Cas felt disappointed and relieved at the same time.

Dean leaves with Mittens and they start at a good pace until Mittens really takes off. Dean holds tightly onto the leash as he is suddenly dragged along by the ginormous dog, trying not to trip and lose him. Mittens stops suddenly and Dean runs into him, tripping and falling to the ground.   
“What the hell Mittens!” Dean shouts at the Rottweiler. Mittens just looks at him like ‘what? I’m a fucking dog you dumbass’ or at least, that’s how Dean reads the expression. And then there’s a hand in his face, one he grabs and let’s pull him up.  
“Did you just run into a dog?” The man behind the hand asks, grinning ear to ear.  
“That I did, I don’t know what got into him. That was really weird. I’m Dean, and thanks for the help up.” Dean says returning the smile.  
“I’m Benny. It is really such a pleasure to meet such a handsome man. Even if he was smacked onto his ass by a giant dog.” Benny says in a slow southern drawl. Dean blinks, catching Benny’s words, and smiles wider, slipping easily into flirting.  
“Well hello there sailor!” Dean says, enunciating each word.  
“Hello to you too mate!” Benny drawls. “Not to be forward, but why don’t you drop that mutt off at home and come for a walk with me instead?”   
“Sounds good to me.” Dean answers, slightly offput by him calling Mittens a mutt. But looks past it, deciding it was probably a cultural thing.

It takes them nearly twenty minutes to get back to Cas’s place. Benny waits outside while Dean goes up to return Mittens, he tries to be polite and leave without really talking but he just ends up seeming extremely awkward.

Dean runs down the steps and stops at the bottom, Benny wraps an arm around his waist and spins him, pushing him up against the rough brick wall of the apartment building and kissing him thoroughly. 

\---Cas’s POV---

Cas wondered why Dean had left so abruptly. All but throwing the leash at him and dashing out down the stairs. He takes off the leash and follows Dean down the stairs, he sees Dean being pinned against the wall by a scruffy looking man and making out ferociously. Cas blinks a few times, frozen to the spot, when Dean finally realizes someone is standing not two feet from them and breaks the kiss, quickly stepping away from Benny, or trying to. Benny still has a strong arm around his waist and does not seem too eager to let him go.

“Oh.” Cas said looking confusedly at the two of them. He could have sworn Dean had been hitting on him. Apparently not.


End file.
